Abstract:

The present study investigated the extent to which being reminded of personally held
humanistic values and one’s own effort to help the world’s poor serves to provoke cognitive
dissonance. Furthermore, it investigated what consequences it might have for future
behaviour, whether such dissonance is reduced through justification or self-criticism. 247
students and activists (60.7 % women; mean age 23.4 years) participated in a survey-based
experiment, adapted from Elliot Aronson’s Hypocrisy paradigm. Contrary to the hypothesis,
there were no differences between conditions on relevant variables. The results indicate that
merely reminding people of their humanistic values and helping effort may be insufficient to
make them change their thinking and behaviour on this issue.